Thursday, July 28, 2016

Both the Pinion Pine Fire District and Pine Lake Fire District have
obtained new 4 gas air monitoring safety equipment. Each fire district
has received one 4 gas monitor, and Pinion Pine also obtained a 5 gas
monitor. This equipment was obtained from a grant via the "Firefighter Support Foundation" which is a non profit private
organization. The grant which was for $4000.00, covered the cost
of the air monitors themselves and the equipment needed to calibrate and
maintain them. During the grant process, both fire districts
worked together to apply as a regional application, so that both
agencies would have like equipment in the event of mutual aid responses.
As such, Kingman Fire is also in the process of obtaining a grant for like equipment and all three agencies worked together in
performing an evaluation of the different air monitors which are on the
market today.

Local fire equipment vendor LN Curtis has worked hard on
getting the pricing of the equipment to meet the grant limits, and all
the agencies will be using the Dräger Model XAM 2500, and XAM 5000 air
monitors. This will allow for all three fire departments to have like
equipment and be able to assist each other during emergencies or other
service calls. This equipment is critical in ensuring that the air which the public or firefighters are operating in is safe and it does so by testing
for the following gases or environments: oxygen, methane (explosive
limits), carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen cyanide. In-service
training from LN Curtis and Dräger has now been completed and these air
monitors are now in service and on the fire apparatus today.